In Fall 2012, Carlow MBA students participated in a social enterprise competition hosted by Idea Foundry and two teams were recognized for their outstanding work. In Spring 2013, the Farm Truck Foods Team (Carlow students Lea Steadman, Michelle Lagree, and Meredith Neel, and Chatham student Landon DePaulo) has been accepted into the Spring 2013 Idea Foundry’s Intersector Accelerator Program. The team was chosen from over 50 applicants to participate in the program. The 12-week program will allow the team to further develop Farm Truck Foods with funding of up to $10,000 in development costs. Once the team completes the 12-week program, they are eligible for the “Transformation Program” which includes additional development and funding opportunities. The student team is very excited about this real opportunity for business development, and is looking forward to this entrepreneurial pursuit. This project was developed under the guidance of Professor Peggy McGarry while the Carlow students were enrolled in the MBA Strategic Planning course. Continue reading →

In Spring 2013 Carlow MBA students enrolled in the Global Business course with Professors Rachel Chung, PhD, and Bruce Rosenthal, PhD, created investment proposals to export three products to China: nebulizers, home healthcare, and Moes Southwest Grill. Student teams performed country analysis, national market analysis, and discussed challenges as well as opportunities in marketing management, supply chain management, financial management, intellectual properties, and other legal or ethical issues in exploring the China market for these three products.

Designed based on NASBITE’s Certification for Global Business Professional, the Global Business course prepares students for the four knowledge domains of the certification program: global management, global marketing, global supply chain management, and trade finance.

One student summed up the key take-aways from this learning experience well:

1. Culture is important. Understanding people, ideas, religions, politics….the list goes on. Without having a solid understanding of the country you are interested in working with and growing your company helps to set up expectations as well as make decisions.

2. Understanding the cost related to exporting to another country are vital in determining the amount of monies needed to support your plan. Also, knowing which organizations would be best suited to provide you financial is vital. Also, the paperwork is important – and there is a great deal. Working with an organization that has solid working knowledge of all the paperwork and financial related to it is important.

3. If you are choosing a partner overseas – research them. With our China proposal, being aware of the potential corruption was important and we want to make sure that we have a sound partner.

4. Be patient. It takes time to build relationships. In China – minimally expect to take 2 years to do so.

Students particularly appreciated the opportunity to integrate multiple disciplines of business knowledge and apply skills in culturally sensitive ways. Continue reading →

In Spring 2013, all Carlow MBA students taking the MBA724 Research course participated in Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC), a global competition sponsored by the Google AdWords program with thousands of students from around the world designing and operating online advertisements for small business or non-profit organizations of their choices.

Students developed many valuable skills in this course. Not only did they have to understand principles of online advertising, which are very different from its traditional counterparts, they also had to apply principles of sound experimental design and research methods to conduct online experiments and use data analytics to determine optimal campaign designs for their clients. By working with real clients, real dollars from Google, and real business problems, students were able to apply abstract concepts and principles to a series of intrinsically motivating assignments.

Many students found this learning experience to be valuable both academically and professionally. Continue reading →

In Spring 2013 LunaMetrics provided a free four-week training course on the fundamentals Search-Engine Optimization (SEO) in which at least three Carlow MBA students participated. The students develop valuable knowledge and skills in SEO with SEO Department Coordinator Andrew Garberson. At the conclusion of the training, students worked in teams to help non-profit organizations search-engine optimize their websites.

MBA student LaToya Johnson shared her experience from participating in this training program. “I worked on a team with a Carlow MBA grad student alumnus Danielle Thomas (we have worked together in the past as well) and a Carlow undergrad alumnus. We were paired with The Education Partnership; a local non-profit organization that provides free school supplies to Pittsburgh and surrounding area schools that receive 70% or more free lunch program assistance. We learned that The Education Partnership wanted to attract more donations and volunteers to reach more schools. Organically producing SEO is the right tool to reach these goals by guiding online market strategies.

Dr. Enrique Mu has been awarded the Dorothy Cochrane Award for Excellence in Faculty Scholarship and Research for 2013, the highest level of recognition for faculty scholarship and research at Carlow University. Dr. Margaret McLaughlin, Carlow Provost, highlighted in the award communication letter, that ”[Dr. Mu’s] scholarship in the field of IT and Managerial Decision Making, using the Analytic Hierarchy Process, is an example of the kind of scholarship that this award is meant to recognize.“ The award was presented to Dr. Mu during Carlow’s Honors Convocation on April 18, 2013.

Dr. Sunita Mondal joined Carlow in Fall of 2008 as an adjunct faculty of the MBA programs. She obtained her doctorate degree in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh in 2009. Her research focuses on conducting empirical research on the evaluation of public policy programs implemented at the federal and state level of the government on employment and labor market outcomes. She is particularly interested in analyzing how changes in government policies affect family formation. Currently, Dr. Mondal is analyzing how the advent of internet is driving out the brick and mortar businesses, with emphasis on the music industry. Her recent peer-reviewed publications have also looked at the effect of the use of technology in classrooms on student engagement and learning. Dr. Mondal has taught at various academic levels including graduate MBA at Carlow University and undergraduate at the School of Business, Slippery Rock University. As an Assistant Professor at University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, she teaches Macroeconomic Theory, Business Economics, Money and Banking, Financial Markets and Institutions, and Introduction to Finance.

“I took Dr.Mondal economics class in 2009. The class sessions were interactive and the presentations were very clear and concise.Dr. Mondal was a subject matter expert and was fully aware of the opportunities as well as challenges in making economic concepts accessible to MBA students. Dr. Mondal always encouraged students to ask questions and was always available to answer them,” recalled MBA alum, Sandy Ramanarayanan, PMP.

Submit Your Work!

Current Carlow MBA students: Do you have something you would like to contribute to the MBA blog? Please send your submissions to our editor-in-chief, Manika Kumari at mkumari {at} live (dot) carlow {dot} edu, or Rachel Chung at tchung (at) carlow (dot) edu.